Date: 22 Sep 95 10:35:00 PDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: BOWMANR%em.EDW@mhs.elan.af.mil (Mr.Roger Bowman)
Subject: Towing a Syncro
--PartBoundary Fri Sep 22 11:09:47 23758282
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Text: (44 lines follow)
I know the owners manual says that the only way to tow a Vanagon Syncro is
on
a flat-bed truck or trailer so that none of the wheels is on the ground.
It's especially important that neither pair of wheels is on the ground
while
the other pair is not.
______________________________________________________________
I think the key here is the "synchro unit". Think for a second: What does
the synchro unit do? It "locks up" when the various wheels are turning at
different rates, leading to some frictional warming in the synchro, and
subsequent non-newtonian behavior of the special synchro fluid. i.e, the
front wheels start getting "drive" transferred through the system.
This situation normally takes place on the road, when things get slippery;
it is essentially the same thing the synchro "sees" when the front wheels
are in the air, or (god forbid!) on a tow dolly. The back wheels will start
driving the front, no big deal when the wheels are in the air.....MUCH
BIGGER deal when the front wheels are held stationary in a tow dolly. This
will either: Drive the van off the tow dolly by transmitting sufficient
force to the front wheels to do so (one would like to assume there is
sufficient force to do so, otherwise, there wouldn't be enough "juice" to
propell the vehicle in stuck/slippery conditions....) or Heat the synchro
unit beyond the "permanent wilting point", causing lotsa dollars impact.
Very Bad.
I do not beleive there any force lubricated parts in the manual
transmission; all is splash lubrication. As postulated on the net, most of
the trans is moving while the trans is in nuetral, coasting; this would seem
to be sufficient.
To add the personal element, in addition to the (good?) reasoning above, I
had the unfornunate experience of Melting my Catalytic Converter on the VERY
FIRST trip I ever took in it....happened near Lompoc, on the Central Coast
of California. I live in Lancaster, about 120 miles away; next day, I
rented a tow dolly, loaded the synchro, disconneted the drive shaft to avoid
the scenario above, and trailered the synchro the entire 120 (or so) miles
with no problems. This happened about 60,000 miles ago; no ill effects (as
would be expected from some expsnsive part not being lubricated) have been
noticed. Ohter then the fact that I have to downshift from fourth on the
freeway when I wish to climb over a postage stamp....._
bowmanr%em@mhs.elan.af.mil
Live Smart. Think for yourself. Transform the future.
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